I am in the process of replacing a shared PC with a new PC running Windows 7.

We have lots and lots of old games and other programs, used by various family members, and I need to make sure these are all available on the new computer.

Many of these can run under DOS, and work perfectly well using Dosbox. Some old programs need a Windows environment to run, and I have been installing these in a Windows XP virtual machine, created using the Windows XP mode of Windows 7. This works really well. For example it runs Sibelius 3, saving me the expense of upgrading to Sibelius 6.1 which is supported by Windows 7 but would cost a lot of money.

I have now started to create user accounts for the other members of my family, and I can't see how to give them access to the same Windows XP mode virtual machine, Windows 7 wants to create a separate virtual machine for each Windows 7 user, which means that I would have to configure lots of virtual machines, and install the software on all of them.

The files for the virtual machine appear to be located in
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Window s Virtual PC\Virtual Machines
which contains the following files

I can't seem to display your attachment; maybe it's just me, or maybe there is a problem.

To add to your list of possibilities, my LaserJet 1020 works under Vista and other platforms but not Win 7, and I can't help wondering if there is a way of supporting drivers by using the XP virtual machine.

I have found lots of pages describing how to set up Windows XP mode, but nothing that talks about how to move the Virtual Machines to a different location on the Windows 7 system so they can be visible to other users.